CMBG Mission: Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is committed to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of the botanical heritage of coastal Maine for people of all ages through horticulture, education, and research.

Internship Mission: Prepare college students to enter the field of public gardens by providing an understanding of the key components of gardens and plant collections care and management. This is an opportunity to learn and apply relevant horticultural skills in a new and dynamic public garden with experienced horticulturalists and garden designers.

The Horticultural Internship offers hands-on experience in all facets of managing a public garden, including:

w Using a high standard of care in planting and maintenance of gardens and grounds. This includes following proper soil preparation, planting, and watering techniques and keeping plants and pathways groomed to the highest horticultural standards. Assisting with the mapping and curation of all plants in the collection.

w Following organic methods for weed/pest control and fertilization and helping to find and identify potential plant health or safety problems and alert supervisor so that appropriate course of action may be taken.

w Providing an engaging experience for all our visitors by treating everyone in a positive and courteous manner and by stopping work to answer visitor questions or to help someone in need of assistance.

w Helping to maintain equipment as instructed by supervisor.

w Completing a weekly blog about the internship experience that will be posted on the CMBG website.

w Completing a project specific to CMBG and the intern’s chosen field of study.

Qualifications:

The successful candidate must have an interest in horticulture and horticultural science, garden design, and/or landscape architecture; solid organizational skills; computer skills; an ability to work well with all kinds of people; and an interest in learning more about the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens environment. The position will involve working outdoors in all weather conditions. The work can be extremely physical and requires heavy lifting, bending, climbing, shoveling, and long periods on one’s feet.

Schedule:

This is an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. position, Monday to Friday, with some weekend duty in lieu of a weekday, from May 15 to August 25.